Eye protection: the standards and who requires them.

The standards

ASTM F3164: eye protectors for racket sports

ASTM's store lists F3164-24, "Standard Specification for Eye Protectors for Racket Sports", for racquetball, squash, tennis and pickleball (page updated 27 November 2024). It covers protection against impact and penetration by rackets, paddles and balls, to the eyes and adnexa only. It sorts protectors into three types, applies to wearers with and without corrective lenses, and names polycarbonate as the most impact-resistant spectacle lens material. It comes from ASTM Committee F08, Subcommittee F08.57. The earlier edition was F3164-19. A search extract of an ASTM announcement (December 2024; the page itself returned an error) says the revision added tests for pickleball eye protectors.

How F3164 replaced F803 for racket sports (2019)

The Vision Council announced around August 2019 that F3164-19 replaced the racket-sport requirements previously inside ASTM F803, "Eye Protectors for Selected Sports". It was the third sport-specific standard split out of F803, after women's lacrosse (F3077-17) and field hockey (F2713-18). The Vision Council said the F803 name had been used for misleading and overbroad compliance claims, told eyecare professionals that F803 protectors were no longer appropriate for racket sports, and advised asking for documented compliance with the sport-specific standard and its revision date. A Slovak standards shop lists F803-19 (dated 1 October 2019), marked superseded, with a scope naming basketball, baseball and soccer.

The disagreement: does F803 still cover racket sports?

Several of the squash policies predate the 2019 change. This site cannot say whether the F803-25 abstract reverses it, because the F803-25 text was not read.

ISO 18527-2:2021 and the national squash standards

• ISO 18527-2:2021, "Eye and face protection for sports use, Part 2: Requirements for eye protectors for squash and eye protectors for racquetball and squash 57", was published on 2 March 2021 by ISO/TC 94/SC 6, according to a standards retailer's listing. It covers protectors including prescription-lens models, and does not apply to protectors worn over spectacles, lensless protectors, occupational protectors or gradient-tinted lenses. A search-result extract of a standards catalogue lists the European adoption, EN ISO 18527-2:2021, against Regulation (EU) 2016/425 on personal protective equipment; that is unconfirmed.
• England Squash (support article updated 14 July 2025) advises looking for the British Standard, which it writes as "BS EN 18527-2:2021".
• CSA P400 is the Canadian standard for racquet-sport eye protectors, named in Squash Ontario's 2017 policy. That policy also says ANSI has no racquet-sport eye-protector standard.
• BS 7930-1 is listed by BSI as the British squash eye-protector standard (search-result extract, unconfirmed), and AS/NZS 4066 is listed by a Welsh squash body as the Australia and New Zealand standard (search-result extract, unconfirmed). World Squash's 2014 list named AS 4066 and NZS 4066 separately.

Who requires eyewear, sport by sport

Squash

• World Squash, Singles Rules 2025, Appendix 4 (effective 1 September 2025): recommends that all players wear protective eyewear made to an appropriate national standard, over the eyes at all times in play including the warm-up, and makes it mandatory for all WSF-sanctioned doubles and junior events. The WSF keeps a list of certified eyewear, which could not be read. The 2024 edition had the same wording as Appendix 6.
• Junior scope, a disagreement: World Squash's April 2014 document ties compulsory junior eyewear (under 19 on the last scheduled day) to WSF team championships and junior individual championships. A Khel Now report of 29 September 2026, citing World Squash rules, describes it as a rule for juniors at all times in play, including in senior events, and says World Squash names ISO 18527-2:2021, with BS EN 18527-2:2021 recognised in the UK and F3164-19 in the US. The 2025 Appendix 4 above speaks of WSF-sanctioned junior events, and no World Squash text read for this site states the report's wider rule, so the report is unconfirmed.
• England Squash (July 2025): compulsory for under-19s in any competition, including adult age groups, and for all ages in doubles competition; strongly recommended in training and non-competitive play; spectacle wearers need squash eye protection over their glasses or prescription squash eye protection. A search extract of England Squash's equipment page instead says juniors must wear it at all England Squash "competitions and activities"; that page returned an error.
• Scottish Squash (January 2023): required for all players under 19 at sanctioned events, coaching courses and endorsed activities on court, and for Scottish team players who are under 19 or playing doubles.
• Squash Canada (November 2018): required for junior members in sanctioned events and funded activities, and at all times in sanctioned doubles. The policy cites PSA rule 6.4.1, under which juniors follow the national federation's eyewear rules at PSA events.
• Squash Ontario (March 2017): required for all players at the provincial championships, junior members at sanctioned events, Canadian juniors in sanctioned activities at member facilities, and all doubles players. It warns that many protectors sold do not meet the standards and are in effect clear sunglasses.

Pickleball

The 2026 USA Pickleball Official Rulebook contains no eye-protection requirement. The Ophthalmologist (November 2025) and the Boston Globe (16 October 2025) reported that USA Pickleball declined a 2024 proposal to require eyewear in sanctioned tournaments; no USA Pickleball document on that decision was found, so it is unconfirmed. An American Academy of Ophthalmology EyeNet clinical update (March 2024) quotes an ophthalmologist recommending ASTM F3164 eyewear as suitable for pickleball and noting that F3164 lenses are inserted from the front so they do not dislodge on impact. Press accounts of the Academy's position differ: Review of Optometry reported ASTM F3134, The Ophthalmologist ASTM F3164.

Tennis, padel and badminton

No eyewear requirement was found in the ITF Rules of Tennis 2026, the FIP Rules of Padel applying from 1 January 2026 (whose compulsory safety item is the racket wrist cord), or the BWF Laws of Badminton read (version 2.1). For badminton, a 2022 case report and a 2020 CMAJ article (seen in a search extract) say the Ontario Badminton Association required ASTM F803 eyewear for junior doubles players in competitive play, from 2005 per CMAJ, and that British Columbia required it for players under 19. No current policy text was found, and a 2006 district association statement gave a different account of the Ontario rule's scope, so both are unconfirmed.

Racquetball, for comparison

Racquetball is not covered on this site, but its rule is the clearest mandatory case found. USA Racquetball Rule 2.5(a) requires every competitor at sanctioned events to wear lensed eyewear designed for racquet sports and warranted to meet the ASTM F803 standard current when it was made. USA Racquetball says it does not test or certify eyewear. Breaking the rule costs a point without warning, and a second infraction in the match brings forfeiture.

Eye-injury research by sport is on eye injuries and eyewear rules, and the eyewear buying guide on best eye protection.